With our Deadlands campaign at a chapter stop, it was my turn to start running a campaign. What better tool to use than the lovely boxed set that Joe told me about at GenCon. I promised him that I would post updates about our campaign as soon as we got started with it, so here it goes. I don’t normally post to any forums, but there is a first time for everything, and hopefully my comrades from my gaming group will post replies to my updates.

Anyway, here is the write up...

Last week I started my Castle Whiterock campaign and I think things are going well so far. The party consists of four players, they are as follows:

The group became a party and spent their first adventure getting up to speed in Cilamar for the most part. They met with Lady Chauntessa and discovered her reasons for summoning them to a meeting. They were tasked with finding various tomes for her and also to locate the missing Geth family members. The dwarf has been tasked by his order to find the Codex Autonomica, so the party is also on this quest (whether they know it or not). At the Inn they also heard a few rumors, and had a talk with the eccentric and scatter-brained Quintus (the alchemist) who has asked them to find rare materials for his potion making.

The next morning the party set out for Castle Whiterock. They traveled all day and decided to set up a fire-less camp on the outskirts of the castle. That night, during guard duty, the ranger spied a group of orcs plodding up the path from the castle. He woke up the rest of the party, they all hid in the foliage, and surprised the orc band (four in total).

The elf picked off the first one with a arrow shot to the throat, while the cleric and the monk stood their ground. Meanwhile, the rogue set off silently to flank the orcs and attacked the side/rear of their party with a deadly sneak attack. All said and done, the party survived with a few cuts and scratches. The players and the DM also had a chance to dust off some of the rust with the D&D rules (we had not played for quite some time—the monk of this party has just finished a chapter of our Deadlands campaign).

They looted and searched the orcs and pulled their bodies off of the path. The also left their horses near this camp instead of bringing them along to the castle.

The party reached the castle gatehouse early the next morning and found the “monks” asleep. The group sized them up pretty quickly, but when the elf advanced to get a closer look the rogue “monk” up in the murder-hole area lost his resolve and fired an arrow that missed and sunk into the ground near the ranger’s feet. This obviously angered the party and they fought back with impunity. The ranger shot one of the “monks” clean in the chest and ended his cudgel swinging days. The dwarf and the monk teamed up on the other monk, and Lucian (the rogue of the party) went toe-to-toe with the rogue “monk” that went up the ladder to fire down on the party with his bow. The battle ended with Lucian taking some pretty serious damage, but the cleric tended to his wounds quite easily.

The group moved on to the stables and the rogue found the iron slave cages, so the party knew that they must be on the trail of the missing Genth family. After thoroughly searching the stables for clues, the party moved on to the tents with the rogue scouting ahead. He found the “monk” slaver quarters empty, but when he was moving silently up to the final tent, he found that he must not have been moving all that silently… One of the slavers attacks narrowly missed him and the party assumed a defensive stance. They were able to fend off the slavers and ran both of them through. (well, the dwarf essentially shattered one’s skull).

The game ended with the party holed up in the tent with the artifacts. We will find out how they move from this point on Wednesday of this week.

I hope to give an update on the party each week, so stay tuned (if you are interested).

We left off last week with the party sifting through the items in the tent with the artifacts. They were able to tell that all of the artifacts were indeed fake and they moved on to peer into the final tent in the group. The thief went in, spied the contents of the tent, and opened one of the footlockers. Finding it empty, the party decided to move on to the ruins.

While searching the ruins, the ranger found a carrion crawler and the thief (resourceful as always) found a ruby ring and a real holy symbol. The monk found the back staircase that leads into the lake and she also spied something monstrous… so the party decided to continue on land for the moment.

At this point, the party made a move for the main compound. The ranger and the thief scrambled up the smashed courtyard wall, while the cleric and the monk made their way to the open, refurbished doors of the keep. When the party joined up at the main doors, they looked around the interior, and the thief made his way up to the first door on the left quite quietly to listen in on the conversation of two guards (not guarding anything at the moment, it is 8am at this point). Meanwhile, the ranger, the monk, and the cleric took up defensive positions inside the main hall. The thief decided to pass on this door and take a listen at the other door. Inside, Ikenvar was happily dosing off with the door locked.

The thief decided to pick this lock and enter, but he fumbled with the lock a few times (enough to rouse the slumbering half-orc). The party took up new positions to cover the thief as he attempted to enter the room. By the time the door swung in, the half-orc lobbed a stenchpot at the thief. The throw missed, but the thief began retching with sickness as soon as the sticky ichor hit the door. The thief slammed the door and waited on the side of it (in-between the first door and the door to Ikenvar’s chamber). Ikenvar called his guards, but he did not immediately leave the safety of his room. The two guards (in the first room) flung their door open and fired a shot from a crossbow, but their efforts were met by a prepared group that was ready to strike. The ranger let his shot fly and killed one of the guards instantly. Then the monk kicked the door that the other guard was standing behind (he opened it so the other could fire out) and knocked him down. At this point, the dwarf cleric ran around the door and shattered his skull.

Ikenvar stepped out of his room to confront the intruders and cleft the thief almost in twain after two rounds of combat (the thief was bleeding profusely). Meanwhile, another guard appeared and shot at the elf ranger. The monk climbed up the wall to confront the shooter while the ranger and the dwarf brought Ikenvar down (it did take a little while and I can’t remember if the monk threw some punches at him before she left, or not). With a few kicks from the monk, and a shot from the ranger, the final guard was brought down and the party healed the thief.

They moved into Ikenvar’s quarters and opened the door to the tower. When this happened, Melchin the monk dropped down from his meditations and attacked the party with a flurry of blows. Sadly, Melchin’s surprise led to his untimely demise (poetry?). He squared off in a monk on monk duel and lost.

At this point the group shuffled through Ikenvar’s belongings and found many interesting items (no spoilers). They also found a door that led them into the next area. They searched the pile of rubble and found a chest hidden away in it, but in doing so they also found its guardian. A dreaded Owl Bear Skeleton!

After a few rounds of fighting, the skeleton was subdued, but not without serious damage to the party. The dwarf cleric was KOed and bleeding by the end of the encounter and the party decided to hole up in Ikenvar’s room and find out what was in the chest. They were very happy!

The group decided to rest up back in Cilimar in order to follow a few of the leads that they have discovered concerning the Iron Manacle (namely the coffin makers). They also to wanted gain information about some of the objects and treasure that they found, as well as buy a few potions from Quintus.

Things left off at this point and the players leveled their characters. Hopefully, I will be able to give you another update next week.

We are moving pretty slow, hiding in shadows and moving silently whereever possible and even when it isn't. Last week the thief and the cleric just about took the long dirt nap and we were being careful. Li feels pretty nervous about our chances going back, and is feeling pretty out of place among such heroes.

Because of the Lawful Good alignment and the angle I took with her creation, someone in the party will almost always take damage before she feels comfortable acting. It fits the character beautifully, but I fear for the safety of the party because of my sifu's code. We will see if she can remain true to the code, herself, and her friends simultaneously. Something will slip and how it effects her will be interesting.

Ju Li can mean (it has a potential of many meanings) strong chrysanthemum. We will see if she will be able to remain strong and delicate in the coming weeks.

Good reading of the exploits of another group of cannon fodder...er, explorers! ...delving the ruins of Castle Whiterock.

I'm a little surprised your combat with the carrion crawler, etc. didn't put the enemies on alert. When I ran level one, they were all bunched up waiting for the party by the time they took on the main complex.

Then again, I didn't really start racking up the body count until the group hit the 2nd level of the dungeon. Good luck!

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